Hal - The Duellist #1

Chapter Three - Books

"Was this the book you requested, Miss Léac?"

The librarian craned down at Meracad from his ladder, swaying beneath the dusty weight of a leather-bound volume. Standing on tiptoes, she studied the engraving on its spine: The Imperial Chronicles, Volume Two.

"Yes. That's it. Thank you."

He staggered down the rungs, laying it with reverence upon the reading desk. "Are you certain that you wish to read this?" Grey-flecked eyebrows shot up above a pair of horn-rimmed spectacles.

"And why not?" Her voice echoed around the silent, empty vault of the reading room.

"It is not common reading matter for young ladies, Miss Léac."

"And who would it be common reading matter for, then?" Try as she might, she could not quite keep the defensive note out of her voice.

He shrugged. "Senators, courtiers..."

"I wish to know how my ancestors lived, Sir. How our empire came into being...why Colvé was built."

The librarian raised a bony, nervous hand to his thinning hair, patting down a few loose strands. "Of course, Miss Léac. An admirable pursuit, if I might say so. Now I really must be..." he gazed around absently as if he had forgotten what he ought to be doing. "I must get back to my work."

She sat down and began to leaf through The Chronicles, inhaling the delicate, woody scent of ancient parchment. She disturbed him: she could see it in his milky, half-seeing eyes. Every time she entered the library he studied her, followed her, interrogated her with stammering questions about her choice of reading material. Would she not, perhaps, prefer some courtly romance? That was what the young ladies craved these days. Or Mistress Egré's latest guide to etiquette. He was not, after all, certain that Master Léac would approve of her choice of books.

Meracad stifled a sigh, pressing down a time-stained page to reveal a fresh chapter in the empire's glorious history. Would he pass on details of her reading habits to her father, she wondered? Would she now find herself forbidden to enter the library? Colvé was a maze. She ran along its avenues, only to find them sealed.

"I thought it was you." The voice pulled her from a world of battles and sieges and back into the cool, musty reality of the library. Frowning, she raised her head and stared at Hal Thæc who had planted herself on the opposite side of the desk.

"I'm sorry," Meracad said, her fingers fidgeting with the edges of the parchment. "I didn't see you."

Hal Thæc offered her a lop-sided grin in response. "Must be a good book."

"It is - The Imperial Chronicles."

"The Chronicles?" Hal feigned a yawn. "They made us read some of those when I was a ward."

"You didn't enjoy them, I take it?"

"Well I wouldn't read them out of choice."

Meracad closed the book, running her fingers along the impressions upon its spine. "So if you're not fond of reading, what are you doing in a library?"

Folding her hands behind her head, Hal leant against the backrest of the chair. "It's cool in here." Her blue eyes danced with irony. "And it's hot out there."

Meracad smiled in spite of herself. The duellist appeared calmer, less frantic than she had done a few days before at Remigius's party. Cropped, coal-black hair threw the paleness of her skin into relief. Her long-limbed, wiry frame was wrapped in leather vest and trousers.

"The public baths are the place to cool off, I believe," Meracad said.

"I've tried them. They're full of courtiers."